Discover Thousands of Free Ebooks with Overdrive

By Alli Durfee

what is overdrive

Companies using BetterBookClub.com are always asking us how they can source books for their readers. OverDrive and their app Libby may offer a solution.

What is Overdrive?

In 1986 before the internet abounded our everyday lives, a lawyer in Cleveland saw value and opportunity in digitizing legal briefs. His wife, a librarian, naturally saw the value in digitizing books. Fast forward to 2018 and you will find OverDrive seated as the industry leader in providing digital content to libraries and schools worldwide.

OverDrive and their award-winning app Libby create and host digital catalogs for public and school libraries. Their digital marketplace is home to millions of titles ranging from eBooks to audiobooks and they even added magazines to their offerings. However, it’s up to each library to purchase these titles through OverDrive and build their own digital catalogs. As a result, no two OverDrive collections are identical, much like no two libraries are the same.

For 30 years, OverDrive has relentlessly pursued their ambition to connect readers with books. They’ve remained true to form by continuing to innovate and grow for their users. Today they are networked with over 40,000 partnered libraries and schools.

How do users benefit?

OverDrive is a free service offered by libraries that lets you borrow and stream digital content like eBooks and audiobooks to your phone, tablet, computer, or Kindle.

Their new app, Libby, streamlines this borrowing process by (1) Locating partnered libraries near you, and (2) Allowing you to easily rent, reserve, return, or renew titles all from your mobile devices.

The best part about Libby is that its users are always one-click away from streaming or downloading their next title.

try libby the one-tap reading app

All you need is a library card.

As their catalog of digital content continues to grow, so does their list of partnered libraries. Their vast network of libraries has made Libby easily accessible to most. As a result, OverDrive just recently eclipsed 1 billion lifetime checkouts. 225 million of those checkouts came in 2017 alone! All you need is a library card and Libby will guide you through your local library’s entire digital collection.

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